A Clan Divided
by leeloukat5577
Summary: Lilywhisker would make the perfect deputy, and everyone knows it. But when the time comes, ShadowClan's leader chooses someone else. Why? Because ShadowClan would never have a she-cat as their deputy. (Co-written with
1. ShadowClan Allegiances

Leader:  
Pebblestar - Light grey tabby tom with blue eyes

Deputy:  
Liontail - Sandy yellow tom with green eyes

Medicine Cat:  
Willowberry - Light brown she-cat with green eyes

Warriors:  
Foxclaw - Dark ginger tom with deep brown eyes  
Jaggedstripe - Black tom with light gray stripes and blue eyes  
Birchleaf - Brown tom with amber eyes  
Oakstorm - Dark brown tom with green eyes  
Duskshade - Dark grey tom with light gray patches, amber eyes  
Goldenpelt - Golden yellow tom with light blue eyes  
Rowanbreeze - Dark ginger tom with green eyes  
Ashthorn - Pale grey tom with yellow eyes  
Grassfang - Light brown tom with light green eyes

Hunters:  
Lilywhisker - Very light grey she-cat with amber eyes  
Poppyfoot - Light brown she-cat with one white foot and green eyes  
Petalfrost - White she-cat with blue eyes  
Lakefur - Dark grey she-cat with amber eyes  
Cloudfern - White she-cat with green eyes  
Mapleclaw - Tortoiseshell she-cat with yellow eyes  
Ravenflight - Black and white she-cat with amber eyes

Apprentices:  
Mallowpaw - Light yellow she-cat with amber eyes  
Littlepaw - Small white tom with amber eyes  
Briarpaw - Dark brown she-cat with green eyes

Queens:  
Lightbreeze - Grey she-cat with blue eyes, mother to Applekit, Swiftkit and Brownkit  
Featherfrost - Light blue she-cat with yellow eyes

Elders:  
Dappledspots - Tortoiseshell and white she-cat with green eyes  
Tanglefern - Brown tom with grey eyes


	2. Chapter 1

"Lilywhisker!"  
Lilywhisker opened her eyes to see her friend Petalfrost prodding her side.  
"Quick, get up! Liontail wants you to go on a hunting patrol with me and Ravenflight."  
Lilywhisker sighed and got up. She blinked as rays of sun hit her eyes and made her silvery-grey fur shine.  
"Lilywhisker! You know we can't afford for you to lie around, look at the size of the fresh-kill pile!" Liontail snapped. He flicked his tail at a small group of fresh-kill, too mediocre to be called a pile. "We toms need our food. Go and hunt!"  
"Why don't you go and hunt your own prey for once," Lilywhisker grumbled to herself, but she didn't blame Liontail. Leaf-bare was making every cat irritable, and Lilywhisker would go on several hunting patrols in a day. There simply weren't enough she-cats to provide prey for all of ShadowClan, especially as the toms were letting them starve. "We can't afford to go hungry, we protect you, you just hunt so you can go without," she mimicked quietly as the hunting parol set off.  
"What was that?" Petalfrost asked.  
"Nothing," Lilywhisker replied quickly.  
Petalfrost smiled sadly. "I know we're all hungry, and grumpy," she mewed with a small laugh. "But we can make it through this leaf-bare, just like all the she-cats before us."  
"Could they at least let us eat?" Lilywhisker hissed. "I get it, we're she-cats, but they don't have to devour every bit of prey _we_ catch!"  
"Shhhh!" Ravenflight looked scared, glancing around. But there were no toms that could have heard them, so they continued deeper into the woods.  
"Come on, Lilywhisker," Petalfrost meowed gently. "We had better find some prey."

When the trio returned back to camp, Lilywhisker was surprised to see the clan gathered around Pebblestar. She hurriedly dropped her vole on the fresh-kill pile and sat at the back of the group.  
"-was a great warrior. We will miss him greatly," meowed Pebblestar. Lilywhisker felt a surge of annoyance that the clan hadn't waited for the she-cats to come back from hunting, but then again, toms never waited for she-cats.  
"What's happened?" whispered Lilywhisker to Mapleclaw.  
"Liontail was killed by a fox on a border patrol! Oakstorm was ahead checking scents when Liontail and Duskshade were attacked by a fox! "  
Lilywhisker gasped. Liontail had been a good deputy, although he did have a short temper. Still, he had been better than many others.  
"What happened to the fox?"  
"Duskshade and Liontail fought it bravely, but it wasn't a match for two of them. After the fox had killed Liontail, Duskshade managed to chase it off. Oakstorm arrived back too late," mewed Mapleclaw softly.  
Lilywhisker heard a small wail of grief beside her. Featherfrost had her eyes closed, tears welling at the sides. _Oh no, Featherfrost! The kits!_ Liontail had been her mate, and Featherfrost was expecting his kits.  
"It will be alright," meowed Lilywhisker, pressing gently against the grief-stricken queen.  
"He was supposed to be here...for the kits!" exclaimed Featherfrost.  
"He'll be there in spirit, Featherfrost. Liontail will be watching from StarClan, and I know he'll be proud of you. You need to be strong, for him and your kits."  
Featherfrost whimpered softly. "Thank you, Lilywhisker," she mewed.  
"Now is the time for me to chose a new deputy," announced Pebblestar, and the muttering cats grew silent. The toms sat up straighter.  
"And the new deputy of ShadowClan shall be..."  
Tension filled the air. They all knew of the rule forbidding she-cats to become deputy, but some cats hoped Pebblestar would finally relent and chose Lilywhisker as deputy. She was strong, brave and smart in the eyes of many she-cats, and a far more promising deputy than most of the toms.

"Foxclaw."


	3. Chapter 2

Lilywhisker groaned as Foxclaw strutted towards her yet again. She planted a smile on her face as he approached. "Foxclaw?"  
"Respect?" hissed Foxclaw. Lilywhisker bowed her head and allowed her real emotions to cross her face for a second before she straightened up again. _Stupid new rule. Stupid Foxclaw._  
"Lilywhisker, I thought I told you to go hunting. And yet you loiter around the fresh-kill pile. Why, may I ask?" Foxclaw spat the last words.  
"Foxclaw, I've gone hunting. I was about to take a mouse for my dinner," Lilywhisker explained with a patient tone in her voice and a not so patient feeling in her stomach.  
Foxclaw sniffed, looking her up and down with suspicion. "Proceed. But be ready for the apprenticing." And he stalked off, looking around for another she-cat to pick on.  
Lilywhisker grasped a mouse between her jaws and carried it to her hiding place between the warriors and medicine den. She attacked the ground furiously, adding another set of clawmarks to the already patterned earth. One moon of enduring Foxclaw as a deputy, and she was going crazy! _Mouse brained, good for nothing flea!_ She devoured her mouse hungrily before returning to the clearing. Her belly rumbled angrily as she saw Foxclaw slowly eating a particularly large mouse - the very mouse she had caught that day. Her tail tip flicked as she waited in front of Pebblestar's den.

"Lilywhisker," Pebblestar called. Lilywhisker weaved through the crowd to stand beside the young she-cat.  
"You will mentor Swiftpaw," Pebblestar meowed. Lilywhisker nodded and touched noses with the cream-coloured cat, before Pebblestar dismissed them with a nod. There was no need to follow the same ritual as the males. The two returned into the group of watching cats, rather put off by the eerie silence.  
As the ShadowClan cats dispersed and went to their dens, Lilywhisker smiled at Swiftpaw. "Nice to meet you."  
Swiftpaw smiled back. "Nice to meet you too. I already know you, though. I watched you a bit. I hoped you might be my mentor." The apprentice bowed her head, suddenly embarrassed.  
"Well, you had better join your brothers for your vigil," Lilywhisker purred. Swiftpaw nodded and bounded over to sit with her two brothers. Lilywhisker watched them for a moment. It was really remarkable to see male and female unite for this one night of their lives before...  
Lilywhisker turned away from the three apprentices and entered the she-cat den.


End file.
